


For the unbelieved.

by lineadecuatro (Maiucha)



Category: Almost Human
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Normal Life, F/F, First Kiss, Soccer is important (for life and for the story)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-20
Updated: 2014-02-20
Packaged: 2018-01-13 05:30:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1214482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maiucha/pseuds/lineadecuatro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Valerie had long ago discovered that when her team was losing, her brain splits in two.</p>
            </blockquote>





	For the unbelieved.

**Author's Note:**

> This story belongs to the Femslash February Trope Bingo, was inspired by the prompt "friends to lovers" and was beta'd by Arianna (who not only did a great work once again, but also let me get away with this silly idea). Title from a poem by Andrea Gibson.
> 
> Happy reading!

Valerie kissed Sandra for the first time at half-time during an important tournament game The Knights were losing. As soon as it was done, she wondered if it had been an awful idea. 

Valerie had long ago discovered that when her team was losing, her brain splits in two. The more rational side watched and analyzed every player's move and tried to figure out what wasn’t working, why the team was failing. Her brain tries to find a logical progression to the current outcome: were there defensive mistakes? Had the offense blindsided team members with unexpected, aggressive moves? Was the goal keeper having a bad day, or maybe the coach had sent the team in with the wrong strategy? 

At the same time, the other side of her brain, the side that isn't logical or at least doesn't believe soccer games can be logically understood, begins to search for other reasons for the loss. That side of her brain looks at the larger reality, seeking to compare the current day, current events with the last day the team won. That side of her brain leaves Valerie superstitious, to the point of even being self-conscious about her wardrobe choices. Had she inadvertently dressed in the other team's colors? Should she have worn the shirt she’d worn the last time the team had won against their rivals?

On the day Valerie kissed Sandra, both sides of her brain agreed on one thing: something had to be done to change what was happening. All her life, Valerie had bargained with Fate, using the outcome of soccer games to determine commitments: "If we win, I'll clean my room," she swore to the screen when she was eleven. And she'd sometimes used half-times to make life choices: when her team was losing on a final, she used those fifteen minutes to start writer her application to college. Her team won and her application was accepted. 

This half-time was no different. 

So as soon as the first half ended, while others were following their own rituals to bring luck to their team, Valerie rose from her place on the couch. She followed Sandra to the kitchen, cornered her against the fridge, and kissed her. 

She had always imagined their first kiss as an inevitable progression; something that just had to happen, eventually. They had been walking toward it since their first meeting, more or less. Valerie was sure of their mutual attraction and that they couldn't last much longer as a platonic duo. The kiss would happen, Valerie was sure, just as everything else between them had come in its own good time. So this – this was Valerie making it happen, faster. 

From the way Sandra's hand gripped her shirt, holding Valerie in place, from the way she opened her mouth under Valerie's and inclined her head to a much better angle for them to be more comfortable, more close… well, it had been the right thing to do. 

Not such a bad idea after all. 

They held hands during the second half and The Knights won the game. As a result, Valerie decided that kissing Sandra during half-time was her new lucky trick. Maybe if she kissed Sandra at every half-time, the team would have a better season than the last. Valerie considered that possibility as she contemplated her friend and, smiling, decided she could make this work


End file.
